


Healing Time

by Baroness_Blixen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s01e10 Fallen Angel, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, mulder and scully are still getting to know each other, scully is a medical doctor, some pampering for mulder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baroness_Blixen/pseuds/Baroness_Blixen
Summary: How and when exactly did become Scully Mulder's doctor? Here's an idea.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58





	Healing Time

“At least this will give your leg the time it needs to heal, Mulder.” They’re in her car, driving to his apartment. Mulder is quiet, sullen in the passenger seat. He’s put the seat as far back as possible, giving his injury space. The way he’s leaning away from her, his head against the window, she thinks he wants space from her, too.

He hasn’t said much after the hearing; he didn’t need to. They both knew they’d not listen to him even before he went inside. No one cares what he saw or Max Fenig went through.

“It’s two weeks this time, Scully,” he says, his words kissing the car window, fogging it up. “Next time… who knows. They want to bring an end to the X-Files. We can’t let them.”

_We._

“You need to get better first.”

“It’s not even broken,” he mumbles.

“If you don’t let it heal properly,” she says, cringing at how much she sounds like a mother, “you could end up with permanent damage.”

“I get it, doc. No basketball.”

“Mulder you need to take this seriously.”

He laughs, a deep, vibrating sound. There’s no humor in it at all. Sometimes, she just wants to shake him. He refuses to crumble under the weight of the universe, but he refuses to share the responsibility, too. Only gives her crumps here and there and she’s supposed to make do with them.

“I am, Scully. At least you’ll be there, right?” She feels his attention on her and turns briefly, taking her eyes off the road. Heavy-lidded eyes in desperate need of sleep meet hers. When’s the last time he’s slept? Eaten? Again, she reminds herself that she’s not his mother. Or his girlfriend.

A strange sensation rushes through her as she thinks about it. She doesn’t think about Mulder this way. Or maybe she has, once or twice, after a glass of wine with Ellen, after phone calls with Missy. ‘You talk about him a lot’, her sister had said last week and she’d blushed furiously in the sanctuary of her own home, swallowing her burgeoning feelings for her tall, spooky partner with a gulp of sweet red wine.

“Scully?” He repeats, reaching out to touch her knee. “You’ll be there, keeping an eye on the X-Files?”

“Yes,” she says, her voice shaky. “I’ll be there.”

Mulder’s apartment is a conglomeration of knick-knacks, she realizes as she helps him inside. They almost topple over a UFO-shaped lamp that makes Scully smile.

“Thank you for taking me home,” Mulder says, struggling to take off his shoes.

“Let me help you with that,” she says, gently touching his back. “Is there anywhere- can you sit somewhere?” She follows him as he limps into the living room and plops down on a leather couch. The apartment is at once exactly what she imagined and nothing at all what she pictured. Just like Mulder himself.

She crouches before him and unlaces his shoelaces, taking his shoes off. He groans when his bandaged foot is free of confinement.

“How are you feeling?” She asks, holding his foot in her hand.

“It’s okay.”

“When’s your next doctor’s appointment?” He just stares at her as if he doesn’t understand her. “Mulder? Your next appointment? To get a clean bandage, to have it looked over? I can come with you if you want.”

“Yeah,” he says, drawing the word out and avoiding eye contact. “I didn’t exactly make a follow-up appointment.”

“Why not?”

“Look, it’s going to heal, right? It’s not even broken.

“Oh Mulder,” she says with a sigh. She looks at him and the genuine confusion on his face breaks her heart. When was the last time someone else took care of him? “Do you want me to look at it?”

He nods, his lips curling up into a smile. “See? I don’t need a doctor. I have you.”

Heat shoots into her cheeks and she busies herself with his foot, so he doesn’t see her blush.

“My specialty is dead people, Mulder. I’d like to keep you alive.”

“You did a great job at the hospital in Townsend, Scully.”

“Thank you,” she says. “Your ankle is still swollen. You need to elevate it and put ice on it. Do you have ice here?” He nods at her.

“I’ll change the bandage and give you some ibuprofen. You need to keep the ice pack on your ankle. You hear me, Mulder?” Again, he nods.

“How about I’ll order us some take-out while you doctor me?” He asks as she gets the new bandage ready. “It’s the least I can do.”

“S-sure,” she says, surprised by his suggestion.

“So are you like my personal physician now, Dr. Scully?” He waggles his eyebrows at her, making her roll her eyes.

“Not when you say things like that.”

“Hey Scully?” She stops mid-wrap, staring up at him. “Thank you. I mean that. Not just… this, but, you know.”

She nods; she does know. “You’re welcome,” she says, hoping Mulder won’t make a habit of getting hurt.


End file.
